{"nrhp_refnum":"80004124","name":"Park Hotel","other_names":["The Plaza Hotel"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"217 S. River St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Seguin","county":"Guadalupe County","state":"TX","lat":29.567483951000042,"lon":-97.96382099199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-05-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-story hotel with a basement at 217 S. River Street on the east side of the courthouse square in Seguin, Guadalupe County, Texas. It was built in 1916-1917 and designed by San Antonio architect Leo M. J. Dielmann.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the hotel is architecturally significant as the work of a prominent architect and as an early example of Chicago School skeleton-frame construction in Texas, here in reinforced concrete. It is historically significant because it was one of two hotels built by rival companies during a Seguin building boom, and it was among the town's first modern high-rise buildings.","narrative":"Rising five stories above the courthouse square in Seguin, Texas, this hotel at 217 S. River Street opened on January 9, 1917. San Antonio architect Leo M. J. Dielmann designed it, and Robert Uhr of San Antonio built it for a bid of $40,000. A reinforced concrete skeleton faced with brown brick forms a two-story base topped by a three-story shaft, a flat roof and a terra cotta cornice. Its design reflects Chicago School ideas, with a curvilinear gable drawn from Spanish Colonial Revival. The hotel was built during a local building boom, when two rival companies raced to open the town's finest hotel. The other, the City Hotel, opened first in November 1916. The Park Hotel offered a ballroom, roof garden, elevator and private baths. It operated as a hotel until 1954, then served as a college dormitory and later as apartments. At the time of listing it stood vacant, with its exterior largely unaltered and plans for office and retail use.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Leo M. J. Dielmann, architect; Robert Uhr of San Antonio, builder (construction bid)","architectural_style":"Chicago School characteristics with a Spanish Colonial Revival curvilinear gable in the cornice","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as vacant and unoccupied at the time of the form; the owner intended to renovate it for office and retail space. The exterior is virtually unaltered.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.075796-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/11/9722/40972211/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/80004124.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004124/d2e492a471-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004124/d2e492a471-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Park_hotel_seguin_2012.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Park_hotel_seguin_2012.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972211","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110002091"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/guadalupe-county/park-hotel-80004124/"}